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Amazon to Take On IPod

OK, so the big announcement is that Amazon.com is going to try to develop its own iPod killer.

What are they, nuts?

How many times have companies set out to do exactly that, featuring gigantic forces of manpower and gigantic bankrolls of money, and flopped? Anyone heard of Samsung? Sony? Dell?

(Probably not. Dell, in fact, is the most recent company to give up on its attempt to dethrone the iPod, discontinuing its DJ and Pocket DJ lines.)

Dudes: you can't do it. At least not without understanding what you're up against.

First, Amazon will have to beat the iPod's physical beauty--its chic quotient, its jewelry factor. Then it will have to match the iTunes Music Store, complete with videos, podcasts, gift certificates, and so on. Then it will have to overcome the "lock factor"--the fact that anyone who's ever bought an iTunes song is unlikely to switch players, thanks to Apple's proprietary copy-protection scheme.